By

Sagarica Rajakarunanayake

We were shocked by a recent newspaper report of a Vedda who had fallen to his death from a 135 ft Buddha statue (thought to be the tallest standing Buddha statue in South Asia) that he had climbed to remove a giant honey beehive from behind its right arm. He had been hired for this task by the organisers of the unveiling ceremony of the statue by President Sirisena.

The officials of the Presidential Security Division (PSD) who had inspected the area had instructed the organisers to remove the beehive. They in their wisdom decided a Vedda would be ideal for the task and hired one from Dambana.

What prompted the organisers would undoubtedly have been the special knowledge among Veddas about bees. What they failed to realize was that this operation was essentially about finding the safest and surest way to go up the 135-foot-high Buddha statue, remove the giant beehive from its height and climb down safely with it.

The Vedda showed right understanding in insisting that the beehive should be removed only in the early hours of the morning, because at this time the bees are largely inactive and will not sting. Refusing whatever protective measures the organisers tried to take, the Vedda had climbed the statue in the early hours of the following morning. Reaching the arm of the statue he managed to seize the beehive but climbing down missed his footing and fell to his death.

Clearly, the Vedda, whatever his knowledge of handling beehives, should never have been allowed to climb the 135 ft statue without necessary safety measures. The organisers should have entrusted the task of obtaining the bee hive from the statue to the police, who would have called in the relevant experts, with equipment, for carrying out this kind of operation. The tragic incident regarding the Vedda is a matter for police inquiry.

What concerns us is the order given by the PSD officials to the organisers to remove the beehive found on the newly constructed Buddha statue 135 ft high. They must remember that the President is also the Minister for the Environment, and therefore they should seek the advice of environmental and wildlife authorities, before arbitrarily ordering the removal of fauna and flora from a place. Bees are amongst our highly valued, yet severely threatened, species. Was there a need to remove just one single beehive found 135 ft up on a statue, unlike in Sigiriya where there are reported to be around twenty hornet hives and hundreds of people passing by, making a huge noise, and often provoking the hornets to attack. A few years back, after some attacks by hornets on the visitors to Sigiriya there were attempts by authorities to destroy them by burning the hives and also spraying chemicals. There was an immediate outcry from the public protesting the hornets have existed there for centuries, while pointing out the need for improved strategies to protect the people.

Would it not have been far better in this instance the PSD officers had instructed the organizers to persuade people to refrain from making unnecessary noise during the ceremony for the opening of the Buddha statue, particularly the disturbing blast of firecrackers. The moral of this tale would be that people, leaders, and even the President, must respect nature which is fast dying due to unplanned development and lack of concern for the environment. We must have the humility to give way to nature when required, and save our once verdant environment from becoming an arid desert.